Archive for the ‘favorite things’ Category

Hubby and I just celebrated our 12th Anniversary, which is a year from my last post. Sigh. That’s another blog post entirely. Anyway, we decided to get matching tattoos as our gift to each other. We decided on Death To Self tattoos, and the decision did not come lightly. I’m pretty sure my parents {and others} think we are going to hell in a hand basket over this, but I don’t care.

The death skull is pretty intense and intimidating, but I assure you there is DEEP meaning behind it.

This image, along with many variations, is historical and dates back to the 1600’s. It can be found on many of the Colonial tombstones in the oldest graveyard, located in Boston, where Paul Revere and Samuel Adams are buried. You may already know that my husband and I have been called to plant a church in Boston. So, it represents Boston and death.

The eyes were designed to be hallow and creepy in order echo the warning that death is a part of life. It’s inevitable.
They go together. Don’t be afraid of death. Live your life.

The spiritual meaning is pretty self explanatory. When you ask Jesus to be in control of your life, you must die to yourself to become like Him. So, it serves as a reminder that we must choose to die to ourselves daily in order to be more like Him.

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Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galations 2:20

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here. 2 Corinthians 5:17

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:3
{This whole chapter applies.}

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We fasted and prayed together for Boston and our calling for 21 days, prior to our anniversary, for clarity and to bombard heaven for an open door to get us there. {We have been in transition to move to Boston for almost 4 yrs now.} I will always support my husband in his calling, but for the first time, I felt like Boston was my calling too. No longer the cheerleader, but a game player. So, getting matching tattoos symbolizes that we are both called to serve the great city of Boston. And in order to serve Boston or anyone/anything, it can’t be about us, it has to be about Him, which means more dying to ourselves.

I have other tattoos and they all hurt…this one was no exception. Every time I felt the pain of the needles, I kept repeating in my head: “Death to self.” I focused on breathing and praying that we would indeed die to ourselves in order to serve Him better. I began to feel almost disconnected from my arm and that He was saying: “This pain is nothing compared to the pain you have endured over the past 12 years, but it wasn’t in vain. All the pain you felt, was Me scraping and chiseling away at your old self to make You who I need you to be.” I felt so at peace that I fell asleep. Yes, I actually fell asleep. I’m so hard core!!! 🙂

So, that’s the meaning behind our matching death skull tattoos.
And of course I had to add a poppy to mine!! Poppies are my favorite and with myNatty Fray biz, it’s so me!!

Set the oven to 400°. Thinly slice as many sweet potatoes as you need. Throw them in a bowl. Drizzle olive oil on them and mix until they are coated evenly. Put the sliced potatoes on a baking sheet. Sprinkle cinnamon over the fries. Bake for about 30-45 min or until tender. A bit longer if you like them crispy. Once out of the oven, put them on a plate and sprinkle generously with brown sugar. Add a dash of salt for taste.

Maybe it’s because I’m a California girl. Or maybe it’s because they are cheery, bright, and beautiful. I’m not sure what it is, but I absolutely LOVE poppies!! I can’t help but smile when they surprise me on the side of the highway. When I come across a piece of poppy artwork, jewelry, or artificial flower.
Just their simple beauty makes me happy.

There is something you should know about me. I am a pretty good cook and an excellent baker…however, I’m not great at recipes. I rarely measure anything and I never follow a recipe to it’s exactness. In my opinion, recipes are just wonderful ideas in which you should always improvise!! If I could sum up my cooking, it would be: Get your basic idea and then use at least 4 or 5 different recipes and make it one!! Yep, that’s about it!!!

My secret to perfect boiled eggs is: let them boil 8 min then cool. I’m sure everyone knows that though!! Peel the shell off the eggs. Cut eggs into pieces and put in a bowl. Mix all the ingredients together. Serve on toasted bread with lettuce, tomato and pickle on the side.

Okay, so, I’m not supposed to eat bread…LAME.
I actually gave the bread to my dog and ate it wrapped up in the lettuce!!
Which, it’s good like that too!!

Egg salad is also good as a dip with crackers or chips!!

{I’m the only one in the house that likes curry, so I have to add it just to mine!}

Hubby and I went to Boston for 5 days this last weekend. It was SO MUCH FUN!! I totally fell in love with the city and didn’t want to come home. I missed my girls but just wished that Boston was home. It was a weird feeling because I have never felt that way before about a place.

We got the girls the Horton Hears a Who board game. It’s a really fun game for all of us. They LOVE playing and we LOVE watching them play!!

There are 6 colored clovers, like the yellow one in the pic, that you have to hide around the house. When you land on a clover on the board game, you have to put on the Horton hat and run, crawl or hop to find the clover and back to the board before the time runs out.

Of course there isn’t any school today, so we went out and played first thing this morning. Snowball fights and we made a snow dog. Then we came inside for Hot Chocolate and a movie. Rules for choosing a movie was that it had to have snow in it. They narrowed it down to Polar Express and Snow Dogs (since we made one) and the winner was Polar Express. Their logic: Polar Express has snow and all the kids in the movie drink hot chocolate on the train. Sounds good to me!!